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Fundamental Theorems Of Welfare Economics
There are two fundamental theorems of welfare economics. The first states that in economic equilibrium, a set of complete markets, with complete information, and in perfect competition, will be Pareto optimal (in the sense that no further exchange would make one person better off without making another worse off). The requirements for perfect competition are these: # There are no externalities and each actor has perfect information. # Firms and consumers take prices as given (no economic actor or group of actors has market power). The theorem is sometimes seen as an analytical confirmation of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" principle, namely that ''competitive markets ensure an efficient allocation of resources''. However, there is no guarantee that the Pareto optimal market outcome is equitative, as there are many possible Pareto efficient allocations of resources differing in their desirability (e.g. one person may own everything and everyone else nothing). The second theorem s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare Economics
Welfare economics is a field of economics that applies microeconomic techniques to evaluate the overall well-being (welfare) of a society. The principles of welfare economics are often used to inform public economics, which focuses on the ways in which government intervention can improve social welfare. Additionally, welfare economics serves as the theoretical foundation for several instruments of public economics, such as cost–benefit analysis. The intersection of welfare economics and behavioral economics has given rise to the subfield of behavioral welfare economics. Two fundamental theorems are associated with welfare economics. The first states that competitive markets, under certain assumptions, lead to Pareto efficient outcomes. This idea is sometimes referred to as Adam Smith's invisible hand. The second theorem states that with further restrictions, any Pareto efficient outcome can be achieved through a competitive market equilibrium, provided that a social ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Samuelson
Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory". "In a career that spanned seven decades, he transformed his field, influenced millions of students and turned MIT into an economics powerhouse" Samuelson was one of the most influential economists of the latter half of the 20th century."Paul Samuelson: The last of the great general economists died on December 13th, aged 94" ''The Economist'', December 17, 2009 In 1996, he was awarded the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lagrange Multiplier
In mathematical optimization, the method of Lagrange multipliers is a strategy for finding the local maxima and minima of a function (mathematics), function subject to constraint (mathematics), equation constraints (i.e., subject to the condition that one or more equations have to be satisfied exactly by the chosen values of the variable (mathematics), variables). It is named after the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Summary and rationale The basic idea is to convert a constrained problem into a form such that the derivative test of an unconstrained problem can still be applied. The relationship between the gradient of the function and gradients of the constraints rather naturally leads to a reformulation of the original problem, known as the Lagrangian function or Lagrangian. In the general case, the Lagrangian is defined as \mathcal(x, \lambda) \equiv f(x) + \langle \lambda, g(x)\rangle for functions f, g; the notation \langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle denotes an inner prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Essay On The Nature And Significance Of Economic Science
Lionel Robbins' ''Essay'' (1932, 1935, 2nd ed., 158 pp.) sought to define more precisely economics as a science and to derive substantive implications. Analysis is relative to "accepted solutions of particular problems" based on best modern practice as referenced, especially including the works of Philip Wicksteed, Ludwig von Mises, and other Continental European economists. Robbins disclaims originality but expresses hope to have given expository force on a very few points to some principles "not always clearly stated" (1935, pp. xiv-xvi)Lionel Robbins (1932, 1935, 2nd ed.). ''An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science'', London: Macmillan. Links fo1932 HTMLan1935 facsimile Major propositions Robbins develops and defends several propositions about the relation of scarcity to economics and of economic theory to science, including the following. * "Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lionel Robbins
Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins, (22 November 1898 – 15 May 1984) was a British economist, and prominent member of the economics department at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is known for his leadership at LSE, his proposed definition of economics, and for his instrumental efforts in shifting Anglo-Saxon economics from its Marshallian direction. He is famous for the quote, "Humans want what they can't have." Early life Robbins was born in Sipson, west of London, the son of Rowland Richard Robbins (1872–1960), known as Dick, and his wife Rosa Marion Harris; his father was a farmer, a member of Middlesex County Council involved also in the National Farmers' Union, and the family was Strict Baptist. His sister Caroline became a noted Professor of History at Bryn Mawr College. Robbins was educated at home, at Hounslow College (a preparatory school) and at Southall County School. He went to University College London in October 1915, beginning an Arts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oskar Lange
Oskar Ryszard Lange (; 27 July 1904 – 2 October 1965) was a Polish economics, economist and diplomat. He is best known for advocating the use of market (economics), market pricing tools in socialism, socialist systems and providing a model of market socialism. He responded to the economic calculation problem proposed by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek by claiming that managers in a Planned economy, centrally-planned economy would be able to monitor supply and demand through increases and declines in Inventory, inventories of goods, and advocated the nationalization of major industries. During his stay in the United States, Lange was an academic teacher and researcher in mathematical economics. Later in Polish People's Republic, socialist Poland, he was a member of the Polish United Workers' Party, Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party.Witold Gadomski, ''Rynek trzyma smycz [Gadomski o książce Belki]'' (The market holds the leash [Gadomski about Belka's book] ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Monopoly
A natural monopoly is a monopoly in an industry in which high infrastructural costs and other barriers to entry relative to the size of the market give the largest supplier in an industry, often the first supplier in a market, an overwhelming advantage over potential competitors. Specifically, an industry is a natural monopoly if the total cost of one firm, producing the total output, is lower than the total cost of two or more firms producing the entire production. In that case, it is very probable that a company (monopoly) or minimal number of companies (oligopoly) will form, providing all or most relevant products and/or services. This frequently occurs in industries where capital costs predominate, creating large economies of scale about the size of the market; examples include public utilities such as water services, electricity, telecommunications, mail, etc. Natural monopolies were recognized as potential sources of market failure as early as the 19th century; John Stua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Hotelling
Harold Hotelling (; September 29, 1895 – December 26, 1973) was an American mathematical statistician and an influential economic theorist, known for Hotelling's law, Hotelling's lemma, and Hotelling's rule in economics, as well as Hotelling's T-squared distribution in statistics. He also developed and named the principal component analysis method widely used in finance, statistics and computer science. He was associate professor of mathematics at Stanford University from 1927 until 1931, a member of the faculty of Columbia University from 1931 until 1946, and a professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1946 until his death. A street in Chapel Hill bears his name. In 1972, he received the North Carolina Award for contributions to science. Statistics Hotelling is known to statisticians because of Hotelling's T-squared distribution which is a generalization of the Student's t-distribution in multivariate setting, and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Marshall
Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time. His book ''Principles of Economics (Marshall), Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years, and brought the ideas of supply and demand, marginal utility, and costs of production into a coherent whole, popularizing the modern Neoclassical economics, neoclassical approach which dominates microeconomics to this day. As a result, he is known as the father of scientific economics. Life and career Marshall was born at Bermondsey in London, the second son of William Marshall (1812–1901), a clerk and cashier at the Bank of England, and Rebecca (1817–1878), daughter of butcher Thomas Oliver, from whom, on her mother's death, she inherited property. Marshall had two brothers and two sisters; a cousin was the economist Ralph George Hawtrey, Ralph Hawtrey. The Marshalls were a West Country clergy, clerical f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abba Lerner
Abraham "Abba" Ptachya Lerner (also Abba Psachia Lerner; 28 October 1903 – 27 October 1982) was a Russian-born American-British economist. Biography Born in Novoselytsia, Bessarabia, Russian Empire, Lerner grew up in a Jewish family, which emigrated to Great Britain when Lerner was three years old. Lerner grew up in London's East End and from age 16 worked as a machinist, a teacher in Hebrew schools, and as an entrepreneur. In 1929, Lerner entered the London School of Economics, where he studied under Friedrich Hayek. A six-month stay at Cambridge in 1934–1935 brought him into contact with John Maynard Keynes. In 1937, Lerner emigrated to the United States. While in the US, he befriended intellectual opponents Milton Friedman and Barry Goldwater. Lerner never stayed at one institution long, serving on the faculties of nearly a dozen universities and accepting over 20 visiting appointments. Lerner was 62 when he was given a professorship at the University of California, Ber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enrico Barone
Enrico Barone (; 22 December 1859, Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – 14 May 1924, Rome, Italy) was a soldier, military historian, and an economist. Biography Barone studied the classics and mathematics before becoming an army officer. He taught military history for eight years from 1894 at the Officers' Training School. There he wrote a series of influential historical military works. In these he employed a method of successive approximations to which his study in economics had introduced him. In 1902, he became head of the historical office of the General Staff. He resigned his commission in 1906. From 1894 he collaborated with Maffeo Pantaleoni and Vilfredo Pareto in the ''Giornale degli Economisti''.F. Caffé, The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, [1987] 2008. "Barone, Enrico," ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'', 2nd Edition. Relatelinks Impact He was the first to state conditions under which a perfect competition, competitive market would be Pareto eff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Production–possibility Frontier
In microeconomics, a production–possibility frontier (PPF), production possibility curve (PPC), or production possibility boundary (PPB) is a graphical representation showing all the possible quantities of outputs that can be Production (economics), produced using all factors of production, where the given resources are fully and efficiently utilized per unit time. A PPF illustrates several economic concepts, such as allocative efficiency, economies of scale, opportunity cost (or marginal rate of transformation), productive efficiency, and scarcity of resources (the economic problem, fundamental economic problem that all societies face). This tradeoff is usually considered for an economy, but also applies to each individual, household, and economic organization. One good can only be produced by diverting resources from other goods, and so by producing less of them. The PPF curve Graphically bounding the production set for fixed input quantities, the PPF curve shows the maximu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
